Nick Diaz Destroys Frank Shamrock

Nick Diaz made a massive statement in the main event of StrikeForce: Shamrock vs Diaz.

In a dominant outing in which he was in control throughout, Diaz of Stockton, Calif., made good on his vow, and impressively knocked out legendary MMA pioneer and local favorite Frank Shamrock before an enthusiastic crowd of 15,211 at HP Pavilion.

Diaz took apart Shamrock with seeming ease. He whipped Shamrock on the ground and at the veteran’s game – on the feet. The fight was stopped at 3:57 of the second round with Diaz reigning punches with both hands on a fallen, helpless Shamrock.

At times, Diaz seemed to be toying, even mocking Shamrock. Twice, Diaz, who was moving up to compete at a catch-weight 179 pounds, took side-control, a dominant position, but Shamrock fought his way out on both occasions.

Shamrock, however, could not get inside Diaz’ long reach and wound up getting pummeled. How bad a night was it for the hometown favorite? Shamrock may not have even won the battle of introductions in a fight in his hometown.

Shamrock will be back, though, he says, and so, of course, will Diaz.

In other televised fights, former Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez captured the interim Strikeforce lightweight championship with a second-round knockout over Rodrigo Damm, Scott Smith rallied from the brink of defeat to register a stunning third-round knockout over Benji Radach in a brutal battle of determined, heavy-handed middleweights, Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos knocked out Hitomi Akano in the third round of a women’s match.

“I used to train with Frank so it’s not like I could hate the guy,’’ the triumphant Diaz said. “He's been doing what I want to do and saying what I want to say for a long time. It always feels good to win."

Said Shamrock, “I’m not done. I trained hard. All credit goes to Nick. He kicked my butt. But I am not done entertaining in this sport.’’

Melendez dominated Damm, finishing a late substitute for Strikeforce 155-pound world champion Josh Thomson, at 2:02 of the second round.

“Josh is the true champion but I definitely want to fight him again,’’ Melendez said. “I lost fair and square the first fight. I know I can do better.’’

The spectacular slugfest between Smith of Elk Grove, Calif., and Radach of Irvine, Calif., may have been the fight of the night – if not the year.

After a wildly exciting, close first round in which both were battered, bruised and knocked down, Radach almost finished Smith in the second. But Smith connected with a perfect right hook and that, for all intents and purposes was that.

“I had counted myself out,’’ said Smith, who had lost the first two rounds on all the scorecards, including a 10-8 second round on one of them. “There was no way I wanted to come out for the third round. But I felt I owed it to Benji and the fans so I did.’’

Said a disappointed Radach: “Damn, I really wanted this one and thought I had him. It was going so good. I hope they give something (money) for fight of the night because it would be tough to top that fight. Scott came out strongly in the third. Obviously, I should have played it better than I did.’’

Brazil’s Cyborg had an easy time with out-sized Akano of Japan, winning by third-round knockout. The ref halted the one-sided action at 0:35 of the round.

“I feel very bad I did not make the weight,’’ said the naturally bigger and stronger Cyborg, who towered over the shorter, smaller Akano.

Cyborg weighed in six pounds over the contracted limit but lost two pounds so the fight was allowed to go on. “This will never happen again,’’ she said. “I want to be the best women’s fighter in the world. Yes, of course, I want to fight Gina Carano next.’’